#206: What’s The Furor About The Fuhrer? by Rough Trade

City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: January 1981
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #10
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “What’s The Furor About The Fuhrer?”
Lyrics: “What’s The Furor About The Fuhrer?”

Kevan Staples was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1950. His parents were musicians and artists. Carole Pope was born in Manchester, UK, also in 1950. Her father was a stilt walker and her mother a music hall performer. The Popes moved from Manchester to Montreal in 1955. They later moved to Toronto. Growing up, Carole studied sculpture. Kevan Staples and Carole Pope met at an audition in 1968 for Deva Loca Sideshow, a band that never ended up forming. In 1969, Staples and Pope began performing as a folk duo named O. They appeared in clubs in Toronto’s Yorkville neighborhood. In the 1960’s, Yorkville showcased the hippie movement for the rest of Canada, at least on the TV news. Yorkville was hyped as a magnet for intellectuals, artists and musicians. Writers, Margaret Atwood and Gwendolyn MacEwan, and singer-songwriters Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young were all part of the scene. Staples and Pope subsequently formed the Bullwhip Brothers in 1971. Finally, they changed their name to Rough Trade in 1974. O, Bullwhip Brothers and Rough Trade each drew on sexual satire, the latter from gay male iconography. In 1976, Carole Pope appeared in a concert titled Torch Showcase at a venue named A Space, in Toronto. She performed “The One Who Really Loves You” by Mary Wells and “You’re My World” by Cilla Black.

Rough Trade released their first album in 1977, Rough Trade Live!, which was actually a studio album. That year, remake impersonator and gay icon, Divine, came to Toronto to promote Rough Trade in a concert titled Restless Underwear in Massey Hall. In 1978, Staples and Pope wrote music for a film titled One Night Stand. The pair won a Genie Award for Best Film Score. In 1979 the band recorded the single, “Shakedown”. It was featured in the film, Cruising, starring Al Pacino. The controversial movie was about a serial killer of gay men, especially associated with the leather scene. The word cruising had several meanings: police on patrol duty and the act of walking or driving in a locale known for anonymous sexual pick-ups. Gay rights groups at the time picketed movie theatres showing a film they perceived as stigmatizing gay men. Having “Shakedown” featured in the film added an edge to Rough Trade’s persona.

According to Joseph Levy on the laventure.net website, Rough Trade toured in Canada, a few cities in Australia, Europe and New York. In his 1993 book, Not Simply Divine, Jay Bernard, manager for gay icon Divine, recalled the catastrophe of a concert on February 14, 1980. The show was at the Beacon Theatre on West Broadway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Rough Trade was the opening  act in a show billed as “DIVINE in RESTLESS UNDERWEAR.” After the 1977 event with Divine and Rough Trade in Toronto, Staples and Pope wanted to team up with Divine in New York to have a repeat of Restless Underwear. Divine’s contract specified that he would only perform for seven minutes and have ten male dancers on stage with him. While his performance was a hit, the audience naturally expected more. Jay Bernard described the scene at the Beacon Theatre: “The theatre was full of gay men, all of whom had obviously come to see this new comedy… The sound system installed for the evening was totally inadequate and the audience couldn’t’t even hear the feeble attempts at sketches… They booed and hissed at poor Carol [sic] Pope and Rough Trade, who really didn’t stand a chance for success the way the promoters had advertised the event. When, in the second part of the show, Divine performed his two songs with his male chorus line, he received a standing ovation, which only made things worse as [he] had nothing to follow it with–and the audience’s frustration, quickly turning into anger, was therefore increased. The promoters were swamped in the intermission with demands to return ticket money. Many in the audience had left before the final set from Rough Trade. Divine fled back to his home…”

In 1980, Rough Trade released their second album titled Avoid Freud. The album’s first single was  “What’s the Furor About the Fuhrer?”

“What’s The Furor About The Fuhrer?” is a song cowritten by Carol Pope and Kevan Staples. The song begins announcing, “It’s the dawn of a brave new world, Another empire is rising from the ashes.” They anticipate a dystopian future where history is repeating itself. “Hitler’s legacy is ours,” Rough Trade sings, contending that present society faces the dangers of authoritarianism while amusing ourselves to death. Rough Trade warns listeners, “We’re under corporate control, And the worst atrocities don’t faze us at all.” After all, the evening news is sponsored by corporations and editorial rooms filter out investigative stories that run contrary to narratives that please the advertisers. We are not fazed, and this is in part because we treat stories of “the worst atrocities” as nothing burgers because the spin in the news downplays, or fails to report the significance of what is being reported. If what we are consuming in the news isn’t framed for context, we could miss the signs of the times we are living through.

“What’s the furor about the Führer? We’re just sinking right back into it,” Rough Trade insists. History is repeating itself. It may not look exactly the same, but history it is said rhymes with its past. Rough Trade asserts, “Everyone of us is a neo-Nazi, Living in a so-called democracy.” Listeners are left to consider how their habits of inattention, of trusting the media, the government and its agencies without scrutinizing them, contributes to the emergence of oppressive systems.

The band warns “a new master race goose-steps into our hearts. ” This is happening because of “airwaves thick with propaganda.” Former senior journalist with CBC Winnipeg, Marianne Klowak, testified at the National Citizens Inquiry in 2023 about a change at the public broadcaster in 2020. “It changed so quick it left me spinning. We betrayed the public. We broke their trust, and we had been riding on a reputation of excellence for years. And now we were shutting down one side of the debate. And how were we doing that? We branded the doctors and the experts the CBC chose, that we used in our stories…as competent and trustworthy. And those who challenged and questioned the narrative were portrayed as dangerous and spreading disinformation. That was regardless of what their specialty, what their background was, and what their experience was…. As a veteran journalist I had solid contacts in the community. I had people calling me with stories. So I was seeing, and I was hearing, and I was absorbing all the stories of suffering and pain. And they were sharing them with me, and these stories weren’t being told. Some of those were from the vaccine injured. Some were from those who had lost their job because of their vaccination status, those whose families had been blown apart and they’d been ostracized. University students who were depressed from repeated lockdowns and mandates. And parents who were agonizing over whether or not they should vaccinate their children. So all these stories were sitting inside of me. They were left with me. And I felt the weight and the crushing burden of their truth not being given a voice…. So, I had witnessed in a very short time the collapse of journalism, news gathering, investigative reporting. The way I saw it was that we (the CBC) were, in fact, pushing propaganda. To define propaganda, it is information, ideas, opinions, or images, that give one part of an argument, which are broadcast, published to influence a person’s opinion.” Klowak cited a CBC article from 2018 by Jennifer McGuire titled “Our New Journalistic Standards and Practices.” The article stated these were “Accuracy. Fairness. Balance. Impartiality. And integrity.” Klowak stated, that this is “the holy grail” for journalism. “Every story can be measured against these.” Maranne Klowak testified “in my last year and a half at the CBC we violated all of them (the Journalistic Standards and Practices).”

The sources of authoritarian forms, and propaganda, likely won’t be suspected if citizens are unwittingly gullible, easily persuaded, and habitually trusting of politicians and the media. Rough Trade, singing in Canada in the early 80s warned “society is like Berlin before the fall.” The phrase “Berlin before the fall” is a common cultural reference to Weimar-era Berlin (roughly the 1920s to early 1930s), the period of cabaret culture, sexual liberation, artistic experimentation, hedonism, economic turmoil, and political instability that preceded the Nazi rise to power (the “fall”). It evokes a society that is decadent, boundary-pushing, and free-wheeling yet fragile and heading toward authoritarian collapse or catastrophe. By saying “society is like Berlin before the fall,” they argue that the same conditions that allowed fascism to take hold are reappearing: people are becoming compliant “walking, talking automatons,” extremes (from the right and the left) are becoming normalized, even tribal.

The lyrics “White Baptists, screaming fascists, Theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Blood and glory, same old story, Government by total oppression” further highlight the dangers of extremist ideologies and their impact on governance.

“What’s The Furor About The Fuhrer?” peaked at #10 in Toronto.

The B-side, “Fashion Victim”, cracked the Canadian RPM Top 40. Their second single from the album was titled “High School Confidential”.

In the early 1980’s Pope was in a relationship with British pop singer, Dusty Springfield, according to Pope’s autobiography, Anti-Diva. Rough Trade went on a final tour in 1986 before splitting up. Their last show of the tour was in Montreal. The show had to stop when a curtain burst into flames. After the flames were put out Rough Trade finished the show. But it was hard to top the flaming curtain for spectacle.

As a member of the LGBTQ community, Carole Pope has lent support to various efforts within the “Gay Rights” movement. Pope has been an Ambassador for the Harvey Milk High School, established in 1985 in New York City. The school, named after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Harvey Milk. Milk was the first openly gay person to run for, and be elected, to public office in America. He won his election to on November 8, 1977. Harvey Milk was assassinated on November 27, 1978. His killer was San Francisco Board of Supervisor Dan White. On November 10, the 32-year-old White, a Vietnam War veteran, had resigned his position on the Board. White also killed Mayor George Moscone that same afternoon at the San Francisco City Hall.

The Harvey Milk High School was an effort to provide a safe space for students who in the mid-1980’s were identifying themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. In view of bullying of students attracted to the same gender, the New York City Department of Education established a first for school boards in America. In 2009 California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a law establishing an annual Harvey Milk Day on May 22 for the state of California. Harvey Milk was born on May 22.

Since Rough Trade disbanded in 1988, Kevan Staples has composed music for many commercials as well as TV and film documentaries. In 1999, playwright Bryden Macdonald wrote a musical revue about Rough Trade called Shaking the Foundations. It was performed at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, a company dedicated to “the promotion of queer theatrical expression.”

In 1989, Carole Pope moved to Los Angeles. Though she has lived at times back in Toronto in the years since. She moved back to California in the early 2000s, and took part in a California AIDS ride, cycling from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In 2001, Carole appeared in a Toronto production of the Off-Broadway play The Vagina Monologues. The play comprised of a series of monologues about different experiences of being female. These subjects included giving birth, love, sex, witnessing the birth of a granddaughter, rape, menstruation, masturbation, female genital mutilation and orgasm.

On March 29, 2018, Carole Pope was scheduled to perform along with the Barenaked Ladies at a concert in support of the LGBTQ community in Toronto. The occasion was in the aftermath of charges brought by the Toronto Police against landscaper Bruce McArthur, the alleged serial killer of eight gay men. The concert was intended as a vigil for the LGBTQ community in the wake of the arrest, and to celebrate the resilience of the community. However, the concert was cancelled when some people felt it was not appropriate to have a concert in the middle of an investigation.

On July 15, 2018, Carole Pope appeared at the Vancouver International Folk Festival playing an alternate rock music set that evening. She had been expected to appear at a workshop stage at 12:40 p.m. hour long concert, taking turns performing songs along with Wallis Bird and Skye Wallace. However, Pope was a no show. She explained later that night that something had gone wrong with her health and she had to go to the hospital. She was given something that day that made her high she told a receptive crowd.

September 21, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Brad Wheeler, “What Carole Pope Loves (and doesn’t love) About Living in Los Angeles,” Globe and Mail, Toronto, March 27, 2018
2010–2017 Toronto Serial Homicides, Wikipedia.org
Carole Pope – Vancouver Folk Music Festival, July 15, 2018
Rudy Blair, “Interview: Carole Pope Discusses Documentary on Her Life,” CKNW 1130, Vancouver, BC, June 26, 2014
Linda L. Richards, “Auntie Diva: An Interview with Carole Pope,” January Magazine, January 2001.
Charlotte Robinson, “Carole Pope Talks New EP Music for Lesbians and LGBT Equality,” Huffington Post, August 14, 2014
Jason Clevett, “Carole Pope: Anti-Diva Still Trades Rough,” Gay Calgary.com, Calgary, Alberta, March 2007
Joseph Levy, “A Brief History of Rough Trade With Carole Pope and Kevan Staples,” Laventure.net, December 2014.
Mariannę Klowak, “Former CBC Journalist Mariannę Klowak Describes the Astonishing Decline of Journalism in Canada,” National Citizens Inquiry, Ottawa hearing, May 18, 2023.

Toronto’s Top Singles | CHUM 1050-AM Toronto (ON) | January 10, 1981